Wangchuk’s NGO under scrutiny amid pioneering education, sustainability work
Students’ Educational and Cultural Movement of Ladakh (SECMOL) has its school on the outskirts, around 18 kilometres from Leh town
The non-governmental organisation run by climate activist Sonam Wangchuk is around three decades old and is working in Ladakh for alternate education, environment and youth empowerment programmes.
Students’ Educational and Cultural Movement of Ladakh (SECMOL) has its school on the outskirts, around 18 kilometres from Leh town.
On Thursday, the ministry of home affairs cancelled the Foreign Contributions Regulation Act (FCRA) license of Sonam Wangchuk’s NGOs SECMOL, a day after the violent protest erupted in Leh over demands for statehood and extension of the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution. The clashes had left four people dead and several injured
MP Ladakh Haneefa Jan said that he has known Wangchuk as an environmentalist who has done a lot of work in the field of environment and has even a school on alternate education. “He is a known environmental activist. I have also known him in the Apex Body for the last two years and he has always advocated for peaceful protest and wasn’t a votary of violence. Blaming him or the Leh Apex Body for Wednesday’s violence is injustice,” he said, adding that the government has every right to investigate things, even the funding for his NGO.
The people associated with the organisation say it was established in 1988 by a group of students in Ladakh for reformative education with more emphasis on the eco-friendly programs within the campus. Even many students were dropouts not only from Leh but also from remote parts of Ladakh and the school environs were such that students, teachers and mentors lived together and managed to established a place of knowledge and skills with students focusing on the experiments and scientific exposure. Even through his NGO, locals say Wangchuk introduced many innovative ideas in the region, especially his school was all based on solar power.
Former minister and Leh Apex Body vice chairman Chering Dorjey said the NGO has done good work in field of environment and other issues. “He is known for his work but now he is being punished which isn’t good.”
On Thursday the MHA cancelled the FCRA license of the NGO, though the CBI has already been investigating for the past one year which the activists say was a pressure tactic.
The popular film starring Amir Khan, Three Idiots, is said to have been partly inspired by this school. Now the NGO, Students Education and Cultural Movement of Ladakh (SECMOL) is being investigated for funds it received from abroad. Recently, Sonum Wangchuk said that he was being investigated and nothing wrong was found. He, however, said that his contribution to the country shouldn’t be ignored.
“Sonam Wangchuk’s NGO has finally had its FCRA license cancelled — a step that should have been taken long ago. Even back in 2007, when BJP was not in power at the Centre or in J&K, the government had flagged several violations by him and made sharp observations. The record speaks for itself,” wrote BJP leader Amit Malviya on X while posting an old letter of DC Leh dated 2007 when Ladakh was part of erstwhile J&K state.
